The role of fishing cooperatives on social - Economic and cultural development of rural areas of Bord Khun city of Bushehr, Iran

The main purpose of this study was to determine the role of fishing cooperatives on the socio - economic development of and rural areas in the Bord Khun of Bushehr, Iran. This research, in terms of objective, was exploratory and in terms of data collection was descriptive (causal-comparative). The under study population were active fishing cooperatives of Bord Khun. To determine the validity of the questionnaire the content validity was used which was obtained through the views of teachers and specialists after several steps of revision. To identify the reliability of the questionnaire a pretest (30 questionnaires) was administered in Abkesh Village, of Bushehr, Iran. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was obtained (0.864-0.610) showing the validity of the questionnaire. The results showed that mean total economic for the registered villages was 1.57 (SD = 0.367) and for the non-registered villages was 1.51 (SD = 1.82). These figures indicated a very poor economic situation of registered villagers compared to non-registered members before implementing the plan. The total socio-cultural mean for the registered villagers was 2.122 (SD = 0.609) and for the non-registered members was 2.578(SD = 0.673). The figures indicated better socio-cultural situation of non-registered villagers compared to registered members before implementing the plan. It can be claimed that the fishing cooperatives had significant impact on rural areas.